Derek Twigg: I am pleased to provide further details of events being organised by the Ministry of Defence later this year which will commemorate the contribution made by members of the armed forces in operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Northern Ireland over many years.
	On Thursday 22 May 2008 a commemorative service is to be held at the new armed forces memorial located in the national memorial arboretum in Staffordshire. This service will honour the personnel who lost their lives or were injured and the many thousands who served throughout the 15-year deployment in Bosnia. It will also allow time for reflection on the United Kingdom's contribution to a more stable and secure environment within Bosnia-Herzegovina which was made possible by the outstanding efforts and dedication of our armed forces.
	The second event that I would like to announce is a service to mark the end of Operation Banner in Northern Ireland. This event will take place on Wednesday 10 September 2008 at St. Paul's Cathedral, London and will honour those personnel who lost their lives or were injured in Northern Ireland and the over 300,000 personnel who served in the province since 1969. The resilience they displayed over such a long period of time under extremely difficult circumstances greatly contributed to the peace that now exists.
	We hope that both of these events will be attended by many veterans and families with a close association with them. Further details, including how to apply for tickets will be announced via the media in the next few months.

David Miliband: I wish to make a statement to the House on the issue of mixed competence conventions. As my right hon. Friend the then Minister for Europe, Geoff Hoon, reported to this House in April 2007, the outstanding issue blocking the ratification of a number of mixed competence conventions by the EU was the arrangements for communicating with competent authorities in Gibraltar which Spain had questioned.
	I am delighted that, with the agreement of the Government of Gibraltar and in the spirit of ongoing co-operation, we have now concluded a set of arrangements with Spain which will allow the EU to move ahead and ratify all such instruments. Among the conventions covered are the 1996 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and the 2001 Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and its protocol on aircraft.
	In future under the 'Agreed arrangements relating to Gibraltar authorities in the context of mixed agreements' a system of 'post-boxing' will apply for communications between Spanish and Gibraltar authorities but not for communications between the authorities of other states and Gibraltar. The same arrangements will also apply for communications between Gibraltar and Spain in the context of the 'Agreed arrangements relating to Gibraltar authorities in the context of certain international treaties'.
	I am placing copies of the two exchanges of letters in the Library of the House.